SOLITUDE

With this diploma I was trying to find ways to work with the topics of depopulation and climate change in hopes of finding ways of development outside our current economical system, based on growth.

As an investigation, the project aims to see how a ruralization of the town Sollefteå would look like, basically shrinking the town center through the mounting down of empty facilities, and in this way opening up for a new use of both land and materials.

I wanted to create a local material chain for reusing materials, and a transformation hub (maker- space & workshops); to collect the building mass efficiently, reuse it and make new structures from it, or send it to other parts of Sweden that are growing.

How can the human interaction with reusable materials manifest in a physical form, is there a way of getting people to reuse and utilize local materials instead of buying new? Will people start investing in their existing buildings if building materials are free? Could this actually be a way of getting new-comers to town and let them be a part of a more rural life?